-MM

Actually I think they are just beneath you. I kind of felt they didn't deserve your publicity, even when it's pretty bad publicity. I do get why you wanted to put them out there though.

Here's my take.

They're a shitty company in a shady industry. But most importantly, I believe they don't care, which makes all the difference. If they would care, if they actually had an opinion on sex or porn or any other social/political matter, one could disagree with them, challenge them, and enter a discussion. But they don't, so we can't. Which is exactly what they want and what they think they need.

Do we really think they care about moral values or their public image or about what their clients think? They certainly would like to make us think so. They sure want to appear to have a social conscience, to actually take part in a human conversation. But this is just a facade and a very useful one, too. It enables them to not having to enter into this conversation in the first place: Let them think we care (as in Let them eat cake).

They just care for one thing, and this one thing only: to make as much money as possible with the least effort and the lowest possible risk. And they are in a perfect position to do exactly that. Never mind them telling us they're a service business. They aren't. They are a transaction business. They enjoy profit margins that would make King Midas cringe. And they also fear only one thing: a slowing in the number of transactions they are able to process. Which is exactly what happens if you actually provide service, right? If you have to make decisions. If you take time (bad!) to think (even worse!).

It would be much easier, too if there weren't any regulations. Like anti money laundering and anti racketeering and consumer protection and similar nuisances. Again, they wouldn't care if it wasn't that this again seriously slows down their processing speed. They need to sit down and check. Which obviously costs time and cuts into their margins and is therefore totally unacceptable. Fuck whether money laundering and racketeering is bad and despicable. Far worse is that it cuts their margins because they have to check and think and decide and take risks and actually be responsible citizens.

No. It goes like this. Just do some statistics and look for patterns. Make lists of "suspicious" things. Then put up some poor sods from some stinking Indian shithole, pay them a fraction of Western minimum wage and make them sift through your clients 12 hours a day. Make them ditch everything remotely suspicious according to your statistics. Like tits. Or porn. Or bongs. Or whatever. Also, make them pay for clients or transactions they might have waved through and that need to be checked separately, again slowing down your processing.

And then go out and claim you're so regulations compliant and that you totally stand up for moral business conduct and client service and stuff. That you do not wish to alienate anyone. That you're good. (Also, very important, make sure that in the background you're standing up against "over-"regulation and for free business and less government and for free speech and of course for the guns you need to protect yourself from all this government shit. Because the only thing that's worse than slowing down the number of transactions is the lists of suspicious things getting too long.)

So, while it looks like they censor your/our content that is what I think they actually do. Censoring would mean they take a stand even if it would be one I don't agree with. I could live with that. But they don't. They don't CARE. And this I find totally despicable.

Unfortunately, they're not alone out there. This kind of thinking is one of the reasons why capitalism works so beautifully for all of us and why it is so horrible at the same time. It's also the basis for corruption.

</rant>

[Youtube and Facebook are different but not necessarily better. Other mechanisms but same basic "morals", same results. Another time maybe]

And now let me tell you how much I loved Perve 01. I laughed out loud and it was very sexy too. Which is of course the best combination. Then the obit for Philip Seymour Hoffman. Better than any I've read I think.

Also, a big Thank You to Max because Come2 5:55. Tell him I love him too now, hope he's not offended.

Cheers,

PS. Just in case. I think the way you approached the Paypal/Youtube thing in Come was brilliant. The intro is especially great. Also at 12:35, that's exactly the right question. It has a lot to do with ourselves.